Blair's close attention to the text itself brings to light startling insights
into this most influential of all German novels. He shows that, contrary
to most readings of the novel, Goethe slyly introduced material in the
work that is full of low-cultural, subversive vitality that mocks conservative,
authoritarian powers interested in conformity or propriety. The novel does
not just find fault with developments of the lateEnlightenment but rather seductively describes loci of resistance to
them: the marketplace, the traveling theater,
the Hanswurst. Although "high" aesthetics, morals, institutions,
and rationality are impugned in the Lehrjahre, they are not completely
discredited. The novel suggests that the problem with "high"
principles is their tendency to present themselves as the only valid voice.
This new reading will have to be take into consideration in all future
scholarship on this seminal work.

"Blair provides a stimulating reinterpretation
of Goethe's novel by shifting attention away from Wilhelm and instead focusing
on figures such as Philine and Friedrich who undermine the reglementizing
forces in society. In so doing, he interrupts the 'monologue' of interpretations
stressing Wilhelm's seamless integration within social structures and argues
convincingly on behalf of the multivalence of Goethe's poetic text. His
chapter on women in the Apprenticeship demonstrates his sure sense for
those elements of the novel that do not easily fit into the Bildungsroman
paradigm and that have suffered corresponding critical inattention."
--Dennis
F. Mahoney, University of Vermont
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